IZO

The son of late icon-collector Mikhail de Buar (Elizavetin) is claiming a share of his inheritance (Lenta.ru, in Russian). His lawsuit adds to an existing squabble (IZO, earlier).

Confusion over possible sale of Vasari letters archive to mysterious Russian collector (Guardian). See earlier (IZO).

Russian report on the Minneapolis Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) and the Ray Johnson collection (amoro, in Russian). I don't know how accurate the reporting is, but the assertion at the end, that Korzhev's Raising the Banner is in TMORA, is wrong: the painting was borrowed for the duration of a Korzhev show.

$30 million icon collection asembled by Mikhail de Buar (Elizavitin) stolen from Tsaritsyno Museum (gazeta.ru, in Russian). It isn't a theft but a quarrel over an inheritance between two wives (Lenta.ru, in Russian).

On the art purchases made for Roman Abramovich's yacht (Bloomberg).

"Russia scandal looms" over Guggenheim trustee Janna Bullock (NY Post).

On the Timkov Collection (Gazette.Net). When I bought the late Nikolai Efimovich's work, circa 1990, I acquired the best canvases at $100 each.

Video interview with Sergei Gridchin, whose Gridchin Hall is a new contemporary art exhibition space just outside Moscow. His first show is by Dima Gutov (Open Space, in Russian).

"Russian billionaire" in negotiations to buy £9 million Monet from seized estate of Parmalat founder (Telegraph).

Has a rich Russian commissioned a German vintage-car dealer to find Hitler's ceremonial merc (Bild, in German)? According to this report, the car has been bought and is in Moscow (Presstv).

Berlin auction house Jeschke-Van Vliet raises €387,500, against estimated €2.6 million, in sale of Milanese collection of Socialist Realism (Open Space, in Russian). But it doesn't seem to have been much of a collection, so perhaps that was a good price:

Miryana Maricevic from the Moscow gallery Maricevic Fine Art and Antiques described the auction as "genuinely odd: the exhibited lots were a professionally-selected group of works of extremely dubious artistic quality. The level of all the works was identical: they were made-to-order daubs!"

Illegal immigrant from Georgia found working as cleaning lady for [über-collector] Sammy Ofer (Izrus, in Russian). What do I hear you say? So what?

Valeri Dudakov talks about the Moscow collectors' club, of which he is the head, and his new exhibition space, Gallery Two (Open Space, in Russian).

It seems there's a craze for jewellery incorporating black diamonds (WSJ); shouldn't be too difficult to spot this item:

[Top London jeweller] Mr. [Stephen] Webster says that one of his clients -- a Russian art collector -- has commissioned him to make a £20,000 vampire ring that will include black diamonds.

Crime stuff. 

Shabtai von Kalmanovic, former Soviet spy in Israel, major pop promoter in 90s and, apparently, collector of Socialist Realism, apart from being by many accounts a long-time associate and partner of many of Russia's and Israel's top gangsters, was shot dead in Moscow last week (Guardian). Here's a more detailed and colourful life-story than you'll find in the Western press, which describes Kalmanovich as "one of the biggest European collectiors of ceramics, pictures and jewellery, and one the biggest collectors in the world of old Jewish ritual silver" as well as listing his four wives and possible homosexual proclivities (general-ivanov, in Russian). 

The suspected murderers of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova have been arrested (Interfax). 

Russian emigre Dimitri Kirilik is accused of Israel's goriest-ever murder (Jerusalem Post). 

Gangster story with happy ending? Mafia boss arrested in Naples after trying unsuccessfully to mug Ukrainian couple in Mercedes (Lenta, in Russian).

Got some Napoleon-related articles? Maybe sell them to Alexander Vikhrov or Alexander Nikishin, two collectors who are staging a big Napoleon-themed show in Moscow, including locks of his hair (gazeta.ru, in Russian).

Huge insider-trading investigation circles [uber-collector] Steven A. Cohen (Zero Hedge).

Aleksei Smirnov on the artist Falk and his time, in three parts (retromaniak part 1, part 2, part 3, in Russian). The article makes it clear that in the Soviet era not only avant-garde works were faked; so, appearance of a work by (say) Falk or Petrov-Vodkin in a 70s-80s-90s catalogue or book is not a sign of authenticity.

I liked the [American-Russian couple Eddy and Nina] Stevens's living room (...) on the walls were icons that were genuinely made in Rublev's circle at the beginning of the fifteenth century. These icons were supplied by one Moroz, a shady character, a patron of the mentally-ill artist Vasya Sitnikov (...) Moroz lived somewhere near the Lubyanka, by the KGB building, to which he had entry. But later he was imprisoned for some crime all the same. (...) 

In the courtyard there was a nicely heated garage where Nina kept her collection of Moscow avant-gardists. In this collection were a good Tyshler, some insects by Plavinsky, a lot of Vasya Sitnikov, black cups on grey backgrounds by Krasnopevtsev (...) 

On one occasion Nina suggested I go with her to Falk's studio (he had already died) and try to buy from his widow the Nude which had been at the jubilee exhibition of the Moscow artists' union and which Khrushchev had for some reason made an issue of. (...)

Madame Stevens authorised me to offer from ten to thirty thousand dollars. In those days in Moscow these were enormous sums of money. (...)

I knew of course that I wouldn't be able to buy the Nude, and Mrs Stevens was not interested in any other Falk. But I said to her that I'd probably be able to persuade the widow. I decided firmly to stop visiting the Stevenses, the role of cicisbeo (the Venetian term for the second man in an elderly lady's household) didn't suit me. In order to finish the Falk business I dug out of the attic a big old unfinished canvas by my father from the VKhuTeMas period, on which a naked female model was outlined, and on it I painted three works based on sketches I made during my visits [to Falk's widow] - two of Falk's Paris landscapes and a small ugly nude. At this time on the same canvas I also faked two small portraits by Petrov-Vodkin. All this was flogged by a shady friend to some foreigners and my fakes were subsequently exhibited in Europe and reproduced in catalogues.

Rob Moshein is 50 and his house is "stuffed (...) with Russian art and artifacts" (austin360).

Sotheby's NY's 2 November Russian sale features the Schreiber Collection (Artdaily).

Italians upset over sale of Giorgio Vasari's papers to a Russian for $150 million (Guardian).

Who owns the great Rothko collection due to go to the Garage next spring (Art Newspaper)? If it's a Russian, my guess, and it's only a guess, is that it could be Vyacheslav Kantor, who is rich enough, secretive enough, ambitious enough, loves Rothko enough, and who collects almost exclusively Russian-Jewish artists. Kantor has recently opened a museum devoted to this theme, the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery, which, according to Kantor's website, is part of the "Jewish Positioning System", designed to "influence public opinion about Jews using positive examples and focusing on their contributions to society and the country. The JPS programme also serves to strengthen the national identity of Jews and fight assimilation" (moshekantor). In Kantor's view, Rothko is a key figure in this project, a "bearer of historic Russian-Jewish memory" (Kommersant, in Russian). What is more, in his chosen area of collecting, Kantor has announced the intention of becoming "champion of the world" (moshekantor, in Russian). If you were Marc Glimcher of Pace Wildenstein, looking to offload a lot of Rothkos, you would look to the Russians, because they have the money and the mojo and also because Rothko was a "Russian". And if you were Kantor, you couldn't claim to be "champion of the world" at collecting Russian-Jewish artists and then turn down a purchase such as this.

The Ludwig Museum has acquired a collection of original avant-garde photographs from Daniela Mrázkowá (AN-online, in German).

At the New York Film Festival: "Don Argott’s Art of the Steal (...) energetically traces the history and scandals surrounding the Barnes Foundation, home to one of the world’s most celebrated collections of modern art" (NYT).

The notorious profile of Vladimir Putin that GQ mag tried to bury (IZO, earlier) didn't make the pages of the Russian September issue; instead, Russian readers got a colourful interview with collector Oleg Baibakov by Ksenia Sobchak (Kompromat, in Russian):

KS: Why have you hung a [painting by Richard Phillips of a] female sex organ on the wall?

OB: I love contemporary art and I believe that sex is a force for progress in the contemporary world. I'm interested in sexuality in life and art. This work is not a masterpiece, but it's quite an original conceptual work. The girl has inserted the magazine Frieze into a certain part of her body. It's a work about the duality of contemporary art.

I guess he bought it from Gagosian (Artnet).

Short version of an interview by Anna Arutyunova with top collector Peter Aven, the full version to appear in the October Art+Auction (Open Space/Art Times, in Russian):

I take advice only on price, says Aven. As far as the painterly qualities of what I buy are concerned, I make my own decisions.

 As I understand, this issue of A+A will also contain my introduction to the upcoming show by Semyon Faibisovich at the Museum of Modern Art on Gogol Boulevard, and a reminiscence, again by yours truly, about the 1988 Sotheby's auction. UPDATE: the Aven interview is in the already-published September A+A, my contributions will be in the October-November issue.

The damaged Brice Marden painting, now the object of a lawsuit (IZO last week), was headed to New York from Moscow for auction; it was owned by Gagosian's London branch (NY Post) (thanks, MK). So presumably it had been on consignment to a rich guy who didn't bite. Or backed out? Which reminds me of a story a NY dealer told me a few months ago. He sold a painting to a Russian collector, took the painting personally to the man in the Moscow region, where he was told, "I'll give you 50% of the price we agreed. Take it or leave it."

Vadim Zakharov talks to Ekaterina Degot about his collection of contemporary Russian art (Open Space, video, in Russian).

A Russian collector has bought at auction for £21,000 a 1925 edition of Mein Kampf signed by the author (MIGnews, in Russian).

Collector and former perfumes magnate Vladimir Nekrasov and FBI-wanted Semen Mogilevich (IZO, earlier) have been released from jail on assurances not to flee (AP).

Meanwhile, top Russian mobster Vyacheslav Ivankov [MB: aka Yaponchik, the Little Japanese Guy] has been shot in Moscow and is in a critical condition (Times). Interestingly, at this point (2 August) there's very little on this in the Russian media. An Armenian-language paper lists Ivankov's several Armenian connections (Za rubezhom, in (I think) Armenian).

Also, bits-and-pieces of Russian-connected info in this look at the Israeli mafia (Douglas Century/Tablet).

Included ARTnews's top 200 collectors (ARTnews):

Roman Abramovich

Maria Baibakova and Oleg Baybakov

Victor Pinchuk

Telman Ismailov update. According to someone I spoke to, he's keen to reclaim $800,000 he invested in a film project, but the money has already gone into the production.

Press round-up:

I knew there would be an art-connection: Telman Ismailov has a collection of 2,000 watches. 

The machinations surrounding his main source of income, Cherkizov market, may stem from a dispute with one Zarakh Itsiev, who is a friend of a friend of Prime Minister Putin; or from Putin's displeasure at Ismailov's extravagant hotel-building in Turkey; or from a battle to diminish the power of Ismailov's ally, Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov (Radio Svoboda, in Russian). 

Abbas Abbasov, vice-president of Ismailov's firm AST, is moving his assets out of Russia. A court case has been opened against Ismailov for contraband, but he has managed to escape to Turkey (news.az, in Russian).

The Cherkizov market [or, as the Tajik traders call it, Cherkiz-bozor] has been temporarily closed; Chinese media sources put the value of seized contraband goods at $5 billion and say several Chinese businessmen have been bankrupted and/or committed suicide. The market had become "a state within a state, an underground town with hostels connected to Stalin's former bunker, with its own system of bribes, its own guardians of the law and brothels" (Segodnya, in Russian). One problem after closure: how to cope now with the 20,000 illegal migrants who worked at the market (Novaya Gazeta, in Russian). 

Mountain Jews have come out in Ismailov's defence, saying he should be able to spend his honestly-earned money where he likes (NIRA, in Russian). Ismailov's brother has been removed from the post of Prefect (i.e., I believe, chief cop) of Moscow's Northern Administrative Area (Polit.ru, in Russian).

Other so-called "thing markets" (вещевые рынки) continue to operate as normal in Moscow. Their main function is to supply cheap goods to the "shuttle-traders" (челноки) from Russia's regions (gzt.ru, in Russian).

My video-narrative from a couple of weeks ago (IZO). Arkady Mamontov's film Cherkizon looks at the Cherkizov Market; my connection was bad and I was able to watch only up to the point where an inspector is considering some claimed "poison slippers", part of the claimed contraband at the market (Vesti, in Russian).

Igor Markin claims Vladimir Putin reads his LiveJournal (art4_ru, in Russian). I can't think why: it was interesting once upon a time, but not since he closed his museum.

At Art Basel Roman Abramovich showed interest in Andy Warhols $53 million Big Retrospective Painting (Frankfurter Neue Presse, in German). If he buys it, I hope he doesn't overpay: apparently Warhol prices are seriously down (Bloomberg). Abramovich and Zhukova also considered a Georg Herold caviar painting, and eventually bought a painting by Norbert Schwontkowski (Suddeutsche Zeitung, in German)

Viktor Pinchuk is a stakeholder in Damien Hirst's diamond-covered skull, along with the artist, his business-manager Frank Dunphy and gallerist Jay Jopling. Apparently a £35 million offer from Alberto Mughrabi for the skull (asking price £50 million) was rejected (Art Newspaper). Was it a bad move to turn the offer down? With hindsight, I would say so. This report also raises the intriguing idea that Pinchuk, hitherto known purely as a collector, is not averse to speculation in art.

One of those caught up in the UBS banking scandal in the USA and compelled to pay massive back-taxes is "California billionaire Igor Olenicoff (...) a real estate developer with a taste for yachts and Russian art" (Bloomberg).

Brad Pitt round-up. Cardboard cutouts of him dressed as a traffic cop are being used in Omsk to reduce speeding (AP):

The campaign seems to be working. Omsk officials say accidents are down as star-struck drivers ease off the gas to gaze at the unusual image.

And I read last week in Berlin celeb newspaper BZ that he has bought a painting by Neo Rauch for €680,000. And he didn't even get his first choice.

Senator Vladimir Slutsker and his wife Olga are getting divorced. They turn out to have been quite the contemporary art collectors: among their joint property are listed works by Hirst, Fontana, Warhol, Picabia, Basquiat, Condo, Schnabel et al (Compromat, in Russian). No Russian artists involved.

Charlie Finch is sceptical of Yale's moral dibs on the Van Gogh claimed by Pierre Konowaloff, grandson of Ivan Morozov (Artnet).

Colector Vyacheslav Kantor, head of the European Jewish Congress, former head of the Russian Jewish Congress (until his recent resignation), has announced that he will open a Museum of the Art of the Avant-Garde in Geneva. The museum will present Kantor's collection, which is based almost exclusively on 20th century artists of Russian-Jewish origin. The first exhibition will be curated by Andrei Tolstoy (Tatyana Markina/Kommersant, in Russian).

I read that among the few works by non-Jewish artists in Kantor's Geneva-based collection is Valentin Serov's famous The Abduction of Europa. I wonder how Kantor got an export licence for that?

There is a further interview with Kantor; apparently his collection is fifty times over budget (Tatyana Markina/Kommersant, in Russian). I'm not surprised by that. Kantor is known to the auction houses as the biggest spender on contemporary Russian art: for example, he bought Ilya Kabakov's Beetle, which set a Russian contemporary record; and he has also bought major international names such as Rothko and Nevelson. His conception of the Jewish in art is not based, as far as I can tell, merely on race/religion/ethnicity: it posits a certain kind or kinds of intellectual identity. Rothko, who communes with God, is in. Kabakov, who appends texts to his images, is in. Faibisovich, who paints social subjects, is (as far as I know) out.

The Rita and Herbert Batliner Collection, assembled over 50 years, contains works by the Russian avant-garde (Artdaily). Let's hope they're authentic!

Hearing of the so-called Arbat Prestige court case (IZO, earlier) involving FBI Most Wanted Sergei Shnaider (aka Semen Mogilevich) and top collector and businessman Vladimir Nekrasov has begun at Tushino courtroom, Moscow. The pair are accused of avoiding taxes of 49 million roubles by setting up straw companies that received payments but vanished without paying taxes. The defendants asked for bail, which was refused, and the prosecution asked for the case to be held in camera, which was granted (Life.ru, in Russian, with video).

Viktor Vekselberg's Faberge egg collection has gone on display at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow (AFP).

I'm told some of the works in Sotheby's June contemporary Russian sale are from the Markin collection; I haven't checked this info. But it would tie in with the widely-held belief that he wants to sell the whole thing, notably, unsuccessfully, to Roman Abramovich. Sic transit gloria mundi. UPDATE: we are talking about lots 169 (Nesterova), 172 (Weisberg), 180 (Pivovarov), 190 (Lion) and 207 (Infante) (thanks, MK).

Recent articles by John Varoli

Some of these appear in the May issue of The Art Newspaper but are not necessarily available on the internet. Full texts below the cut.

The building to house the unique David Yakobashvili collection of 2,000 rare mechanical musical instruments is to be built near Kitai-gorod metro station (arendator, in Russian). Briefly on the collection here, earlier (IZO).

A rare interview with the Dnepropetrovsk-based rabbi Shmuel Kaminetski is an interesting insight into the activities of arguably the most influential person in the biggest country situated wholly in Europe and his relationship to some of Ukraine's most important art collectors.

The Ukrainian oligarchs Gennadi Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky have given Kaminetski $80 million to build the world's biggest Jewish centre. The aim of the centre is the preservation of jewishness and fight against assimilation. Kiev oligarch Viktor Pinchuk is another big supporter of Kaminetski. These powerful businessmen are committed to Judaism and some have undergone circumcision. The Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community, which has a donated income of millions of dollars a year, has successfully created a "state within a state". Pinchuk paid for a kindergarten after, by "a miracle", he didn't end up watching Nord-Ost on the evening the theatre was seized by Chechen terrorists; Bogolyubov has paid for an old people's home that "looks like an expensive boutique-hotel". Kaminetski remembers nostalgically former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma. He envisages a lasting Crisis and predicts the growth of anti-semitism in Ukraine; he now moves around with a bodyguard (Izrus, in Russian).  

Of the three businessmen who sponsor Kaminetski, Pinchuk is the world's biggest collector of contemporary art, Kolomoisky is a big collector of German and French expressionist and Jewish art, and Bogolyubov is a relatively recent collector of Ukrainian contemporary. Apparently Kaminetski has special influence over Kolomoisky, and the "experienced businessman will not embark on a single new project without the blessing of the 'honoured rabbi'" (Izrus, in Russian). Did he ask permission to collect those expressionists?

Interview with Igor Markin. Before the Crisis hit, he was thinking of selling his museum collection and buying "interactive" Western art, but the fall in prices has put paid to that idea. He is selling some work in Sotheby's contemporary sale in June. He slags off Roman Abramovich the collector ("he made the whole world laugh with his multi-million dollar purchases") and finds Goncharova's position as the most expensive female artist "laughable". And he considers himself a victim of the bubble (Art Times/Open Space, in Russian):

The autumn sales showed that the prices of top-lots have fallen by half and the cost of contemporary works by second-level artists (Shutov, Dubossarsky and Vinogradov) are an order lower, almost ten times lower. Soon realistic prices will be established and that will be good for collectors. The bubble of high prices is deflating and I deeply regret that I was a part of it.

You think you bought work for your collection at inflated prices?

Yes, in retrospect that's clear. Not much, but two or three works were bought for unjustifiably high sums.

Off-topic but maybe useful: art succession planning (Huffington Post).

Top collectors in Ukraine have formed a club, the Guild of Antiquarians, headed by Igor Ponamarchuk; part of their goal is to reduce customs and tax payments (STB, in Russian and Ukrainian; with video).